Entries tagged with: Doldrums

Doldrums' new album, The Air Conditioned Nightmare, is out next week via Sub Pop. It's a real step up for Airick Woodhead who this time out matches his kitchen sink approach to electronic music with a stronger sense of melody and more of a direct eye on the dancefloor. If you wished 2013's Lesser Evil had more songs on the same level as "Anomaly," the new album is for you. You can stream the whole thing (via FACT) below.

Right after the album's release, Doldrums' tour with his brother Daniel's band, Moon King, will start. Both Daniel and Maddy Wilde of Moon King are in Doldrums' live band, and they were terrific when I saw them last year. See them if you can, like at their two NYC shows: Mercury Lounge on April 17 (tickets) and Baby's All Right on April 18 with Malory playing as well (tickets).

Moon King, meanwhile, have shared another track from their new album, Secret Life, which is out April 14 via Last Gang. "Roswell" adds synthpop shininess to their shoegazy sound which is promising. Stream that below as well.

After their tour with Doldrums, Moon King will head to Europe for dates with TOPS and Unknown Mortal Orchestra. All Doldrums and Moon King tour dates are listed below...

Doldrums have shared a second song from his terrific new album, The Air Conditioned Nightmare, which is out April 7 via Sub Pop. Like first single "Hotfoot," "My Friend Simjen" owes a little to '90s electronica, and this one would probably sound right at home next to Underworld's "Born Slippy." You can listen (via Fader) below.

Right after the new LP's release, Doldrums will head out on tour and, like last time, Airick Woodhead will be touring with brother Daniel's band Moon King (who double as members of Doldrums live band). NYC gets two shows: Mercury Lounge on April 17 and Baby's All Right on April 18. Tickets for Mercury Lounge are on AmEx presale now with the general on-sale starting Friday (2/13) at noon; tickets to Baby's All Right go on sale Friday at 10 AM.

Moon King, meanwhile, have released another track from their new album, Secret Life, which is out April 14. "Apocalypse" starts off purposefully tinny before exploding into overdriven shoegaze. Listen, alongside the tour dates, below.

Doldrums, aka Toronto's Airick Woodhead, has signed with Sub Pop who will release his new album, The Air Conditioned Nightmare, on April 7. Having started in 2011 or so as a fairly avant-garde one-man-band, Woodhead quickly brought more form to his music and drafted his brother Daniel (of Moon King) into the live setup. By the time of his debut album, 2013's Lesser Evil, pop hooks were incorporated into singles like the terrific "Anomaly." That song seems to be the jumping point for the new album which is crammed with inventive arrangements and memorable choruses. It's also custom-built for the dancefloor, all while retaining his off-kilter perspective on things.

The first song to be shared is album-opener "HOTFOOT," which is a literal banger -- the main hook of the song is like a pogoing jackhammer and a car alarm all in one. In a good way, maybe owing just a bit to mid-'90s electronica. You can stream it and check out the album art and tracklist, below. Doldrums was on tour last fall with EMA. No word on 2015 dates just yet.

Speaking of Moon King, they just announced that their new album, Secret Life, will be out April 14 via Last Gang. The LP's first single is "Roswell," a fine example of their pulsating dream pop -- stream it below. Moon King toured as a part of Doldrums when they opened for Owen Pallett last year. No North American dates for them either, but they will be in Europe with Alvvays soon, and those dates are listed below.

EMA has been on the road continuing to support this year's excellent The Future's Void, and she returned to NYC this past Sunday (10/5) for a show at Bowery Ballroom that had a good bill all around. Direct support came from Montreal's Doldrums and MEN/The Lisps-related duo The Point opened the show. Like the shows she played here earlier in the year, she split her set pretty well between her two albums, playing favorites like "The Grey Ship," "California," "Cthulu," "Satellites" and more, and also included "Cherylee" from her previous band Gowns.

When he's not making music with JD Samson as MEN, Michael O'Neill makes pretty electronic pop with his girlfriend (and onetime Lisps singer) Sammy Tunis as The Point. Their debut album, Pretty Marsh, is out September 30 via Hope for the Tape Deck and is comprised of their first two EPs plus new songs as well. We've got the premiere of "I'm Sky" from it, and it can be streamed in this post. The song was produced by Gary Olsen (Ladybug Transistor) at his Marlborough Farms studio and cowritten by Kyle Forster (Crystal Stilts, Ladybug Transistor). Says O'Neil about the track:

I'm Sky is a bittersweet love song that Sammy and I wrote for each other about taking love for granted. The hustle of what it means to be creatives in this city often clouds our ability to be good partners. The song is really about the times where all of that seems to vanish, and we feel joyful, open and limitless.

You can catch The Point live tonight (9/17) at Cameo with Color War, and then they'll play Bowery Ballroom on October 5 where they'll open for EMA and Doldrums (tickets).

There will be a lot of Montreal acts in NYC this weekend, and a lot of them will be at a late-night dance party on Friday (8/15) at Palisades that's being presented by Arbutus Records. The night features Austra's Katie Stelmanis DJing under the name Ketsup, plus DJ sets from Doldrums, and SMALL MOSHEEIN, as well as a live set from RAMZi. Tickets are on sale now.

To get a sense of what Katie does as Ketsup, you can stream a mix she made below. You can also stream a couple releases from RAMZi (aka Phoebé Guillemot) below as well.

Doldrums will also be playing live this weekend too, Saturday (8/16) at Silent Barn with Dadras, Patricia and another Montreal group, She-Devils. Hopefully this will be the same trio version of Doldrums that toured with Owen Pallet and features both Airick Woodhead, his brother Daniel and Maddy Wilde (both of whom are in Moon King). They were great when they played Baby's All Right back in June. That show is $10 at the door. Doldrums will be back in October, opening for EMA at Bowery Ballroom.

Speaking of Arbutus, another of the label's artists, Sean Nicholas Savage, is also in town this weekend, opening up for Blood Orange at Central Park Summerstage on Saturday (8/16) afternoon. That show is free. He's also playing Friday night at Death by Audio with Nicholas Nicholas, Jerry Paper, and CE Schneider Topical. If you're unfamiliar with Savage, he blends sophisticated songwriting with a lo-fi bedroom pop aesthetic and is crazy prolific -- this year's Bermuda Waterfall was his 11th album since 2008. Stream it at Rdio and check out his 2011 cassette, Flamingo, below.

As discussed, EMA is one of the openers on the upcoming Spoon tour, though she doesn't open their NYC date happening 9/10 at Central Park Summerstage (it's also not with Hamilton Leithauser who opens many of their dates, and does play Central Park with Broken Bells). She will, however, play her own NYC show after that tour at Bowery Ballroom on October 5. Montreal's Doldrums are on that show too, making for an excellent double bill. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (7/25) at noon.

Spoon, who put out two videos from their new album yesterday (7/21), also recently expanded their tour. An updated list of their dates is below. Still no opener announced for Central Park though.

EMA released her great sophomore album, The Future's Void, earlier this year. Doldrums' last was 2013's Lesser Evil. Watch videos from those, with the list of dates, below...

The English Beat @ City Winery
If you aren't too concerned that Dave Wakeling is the only original member of the band, and don't mind hearing General Public songs too, you'll probably have a good time singing along to "Save it for Later," "Mirror in the Bathroom" and "Tenderness."

Drive-By Truckers, The Hold Steady @ The Paramount
The Hold Steady and Drive-By Truckers both recently released new albums, and both will be on their own tours this summer. Their paths intersect for two co-headlining NY-area shows, this being the first.

Infest, Paint It Black, Replica, Ajax @ The Wick
Speaking of influential punk bands, powerviolence pioneers Infest are also reunited and on their second of two NYC shows tonight (their first ever here). Philly greats Paint It Black make this an unstoppable double bill for hardcore.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Stagnant Pools @ MHOW
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah may be missing much of the lineup they began with, and this once-buzzy band is buzzy no longer, but they do still make quality indie rock. Opening are Stagnant Pools who are a little shoegazy and also probably own the first two Strokes albums.

Del Close Marathon
It's Upright Citizens Brigade's annual three-day fest with over 420 comedy performances. A $30 wristband gets you into as many as you can muster.

Owen Pallett's tour with Doldrums hit NYC this week for two shows. Following Tuesday's at Glasslands (5/13), the played Bowery Ballroom last night (5/14). The Academy Award nominee played good portion of his new album, In Conflict, as well as selections from Heartland, and a few songs from his Final Fantasy days as well (the latter were mostly midset when he did a few solo songs). For his second encore he gave the crowd a couple covers: Tori Amos' "Pretty Good Year" (he reviewed her new album for The Talkhouse), and Joanna Newsom's "Peach Plum Pear." Pictures, setlist and video of "Peach Plum Pear" from Bowery Ballroom are in this post.

As mentioned, Airick Woodhead augmented the live line-up of Doldrums for this tour with his brother Daniel and Maddie Wilde of Moon King and were a solid start to the evening. You can catch Doldrums and Moon King -- on the same bill together for the first time ever -- at Baby's All Right on June 5. Tickets are on sale now.

Doldrums, the musical venture led by Torontonian Airick Woodhead, are currently in NYC as part of their tour with Owen Pallett which hits Brooklyn's Glasslands tonight (5/13) and Bowery Ballroom on Wednesday (5/14). Tickets to Glasslands and Bowery Ballroom are still available.

For this tour, Doldrums includes Woodhead's brother Daniel, who used to be in the band (and sometimes still is live) but now fronts Moon King. That band's other main member, Maddie Wilde, is also part of the current Doldrums touring unit. Once that tour is over, Doldrums will be back in NYC for a show at Baby's All Right on June 5 that will also feature a set from Moon King, too. This will be the first time Doldrums and Moon King have played on the same bill together. Eola is also on the bill and Empress Of is DJing. Tickets are on sale now.

Doldrums' most recent album was 2013's Lesser Evil. All Doldrums dates are listed below.

Owen Pallett is already having a pretty good year. The lovely score for Spike Jonze's Her, that he co-wrote with Arcade Fire's (who played Big Day Out Fest and were nominated for a Juno) Will Butler, is up for an Oscar. And today he tweeted, "new OP album and solo/band tour dates, announcing tomorrow." We may have to wait for the news on the album, but we know a few of the tour dates right now, which will happen in the Northeast in May.

Those dates include two in NYC: Glasslands on May 13 and Bowery Ballroom on May 14. Tickets for Glasslands go on sale Thursday (2/6) at 10 AM; tickets for Bowery Ballroom go on AmEx presale today (2/5) at noon with the general on-sale starting Friday (2/7) at noon. Most of the dates, including both NYC shows, are with Toronto's Doldrums. All dates are listed below.

Rage pop duo Sleigh Bells wrapped up their tour in support of this year's Bitter Rivals in NYC over the weekend with two shows at Terminal 5 (11/22 & 11/23). Unlike the rest of the tour, these shows also had Danny Brown on the bill, and Montreal indie poppers Doldrums (who were on the whole tour) opened them too. Sleigh Bells, now three albums deep in almost as many years, split the set pretty evenly between all of those releases. Pictures of the second night, and the setlist from the first, are in this post. Pictures of Danny Brown are here.

Rage pop duo Sleigh Bells just played a release show in NYC at Le Poisson Rouge on Saturday (10/5) for their new album Bitter Rivals, and they're kicking off their full tour in support of the new record this week. As discussed, the tour culminates with a much larger NYC show happening on November 22 at Terminal 5 with Doldrums and Danny Brown (whose new album, Old, is out now too), and since we last spoke, Sleigh Bells, Danny and Doldrums have added a second date happening at Terminal 5 on November 23. Tickets for the newly-added show go on sale Friday (10/11) at noon, and tickets for the first night (same link) are still available.

Sleigh Bells, whose old song "Rill Rill" is being used in the current iPhone 5c ad, have also made their new album, Bitter Rivals, available for streaming. You can listen to that, along with a stream of the new Danny Brown album, and the updated list of dates, below...

Abrasive pop duo Sleigh Bells have announced that the followup to 2012's Reign of Terror is called Bitter Rivals, and it will be out on October 8 via Mom + Pop. The album's first single/title track is more of the band's heavy, trashy pop, and you can hear it in the song's video (made in conjunction with The Creators Project), below. The album artwork, tracklist, and a clip of Alexis Krauss talking about the new album on SiriusXMU are below too.

Sleigh Bells will be supporting the new album with a tour of the US and Canada this fall, which brings the band to Terminal 5 on November 22 (a place they've playedbefore). Most of the tour is with Doldrums, but and the Terminal 5 date is also with Danny Brown. Tickets for the T5 show are not on sale yet go on sale Friday (9/6) at noon. All tour dates are listed below.

UPDATE:Doldrums are on the T5 date as well.

Meanwhile, Danny Brown, who will release his new album, OLD, on September 30 via Fool's Gold, just played Fool's Gold Day Off in Williamsburg Park yesterday (9/2) with Run the Jewels, Migos, A$AP Ferg, and more. A video with clips of yesterday's show is below. If you're an NYU student, you can also probably catch Danny at the NYU Mystery Concert tonight (9/3).

All Sleigh Bells dates are listed, along with videos, LP artwork and tracklist, below...

In related news, Grand Resort, who also play the fest, play Sunday (8/4) as part of the Sound Bites Series (which I curate, full disclosure). There is a slight adjustment to this year's plan. Bands will now start at 4 PM and will play the Front/Row Stage which is at the corner of Fulton and Front streets down by South Street Seaport. (It's right by Smorgasbar if you've been down there this summer.) It's still free and open to the public. Hope to see you there.

Onetime Brooklyn residents Liars returned to their home city for two shows over the weekend. The first happened on Saturday (5/18) at The Met and the second happened on Sunday (5/19) at a more traditional concert space, Le Poisson Rouge, where it was relocated to from its original Brooklyn Masonic Temple location. Pictures from the latter are in this post.

Lower Dens were initially supposed to open that show but quickly dropped off and were replaced by Toronto's Doldrums. However, Doldrums never made it across the border (missing their Ran Tea House show too) as their van got broken into and Airick Woodhead's laptop and passport got stolen. Via Twitter: "hey my van was broken into & along with my laptop with a years worth of writing and a box containing nothing but my fav CDs from teenagedom."

So Liars ended up taking the stage at their originally schedule time of 8:30 with no opener, and played a set that was a little over 75 minutes and included three encores. More pictures from the show (including one of the setlist) below...

Empress Of released a pair of hot remixes today by the likes of El Guincho (who has been quiet the last couple years) and Pional. Both are pretty chilled out, especially El Guincho's which sounds like walking through a big house that has a radio in every room, each one playing something different. Listen to both below.

Empress Of also has a pair of shows coming up including the previously mentioned gig with Twin Sister at Silent Barn on Saturday (5/11) and one with Doldrumsat Mercury Lounge on Wednesday (5/8). Tickets for the Merc show are still available.

"It was 85 degrees [Saturday] afternoon with the sun beating down hard on the pavement at Old Emo's. So the crowd at the Brooklyn Vegan day party instinctively packed into the shady spots by the stage for Autre Ne Veut's set. Arthur Ashin laid out a series of songs from Anxiety and, despite the punishing weather, put on a solid show." [Pitchfork]

Delorean (Wednesday), Autre Ne Veut (Saturday), and Doldrums (Saturday) all played solid sets at BrooklynVegan day parties at SXSW this year, but sadly, at the moment only one of them has NYC shows announced. That would be Doldrums whose tour dates bring them to Mercury Lounge in May, and even sooner to 285 Kent in Brooklyn on Saturday, April 13 which is one day after they share a bill in Philly with Delorean and Autre Ne Veut. That right there is a reason to be in Pennsylvania on April 12. Tickets for the $12 Making Time show at Voyeur are still available (and Jacques Greene is on the bill too).

NYC rapper Mykki Blanco is on a tour now, which includes a previously mentioned hometown show on April 2 at Bowery Ballroom. Since we first posted that show, openers were announced -- DJ MikeQ, Rizzla, and Ian Isiah -- and tickets are still available. The tour also hits the Ivy League circuit with stops in Princeton, NJ for a Princeton University show at Terrace Club and New Haven, CT for a Yale University show at Toad's Place. All tour dates are listed below.

Mykki's Yale show is with Pictureplane, who he also shared a bill with at the BrooklynVegan Official SXSW showcase (pics of that are HERE and HERE), along with Beat Culture and Physical Therapy. Pictureplane is also heading out as a support act on the second leg of Crystal Castles' upcoming tour.

We wrapped up our stay at The Main and The Jr (aka old Emo's) with our fourth and final BrooklynVegan SXSW day party on Saturday (3/16). Unfortunately, Foxygen had to drop off at the last minute because the singer lost his voice. They would have played the outdoor stage (Pianos Stage), where we still saw sets from the arty synthpop of Empress Of, the loudest set of all of our day parties from A Place to Bury Strangers, and a super fun set from catchy UK rockers Palma Violets. Then came the sexy R&B of Autre Ne Veut, followed by a set by Austra, who were previewing expansive material from their upcoming sophomore album, Olympia. Then finally, the outdoor stage was wrapped up with a set from psychedelic pop New Zealanders Unknown Mortal Orchestra.

Inside, the show kicked off with the catchy indie pop of TEEN, followed by rockin' UK band Peace, and then three consecutive synthpop groups, Feathers, MS MR, and Doldrums. Then the show took a louder turn with an adrenaline-pumping set from White Lung, bouncy young garage punks The Orwells, and finally King Tuff.

In addition to the music, we had an interactive photo and video booth set up by Oxygen tattoo show, "Best Ink". The second season (hosted by Pete Wentz who made a surprise appearance in their booth) premieres April 3rd. Onkyo was there, sampling their new headphones which hit stores next month. mophie maker of invaluable iPhone chargers, were giving away discount cards good at their pop-up shop which was set up right across the street on Red River. We were also serving complimentary Jameson, and Zico coconut water, and free vegan queso and chips from Food For Lovers. We also had BrooklynVegan t-shirts for the first 50 people in the door, thanks to American Apparel. Also thanks to our other sponsors, Korg, Vox, Blackstar, Creative Recreation, Signazon, Zazoo, and Redigi.

As you know, BrooklynVegan is returning to Austin for SXSW this year and throwing four days of day parties at The Main & The Jr aka 603 Red River Street at the corner of 6th aka the old Emo's location. Those happen Wed (3/13), Thurs, Fri and Saturday (3/16). All shows are 100% FREE with RSVP

We've announced Thursday and Friday. Wednesday is on the way. HERE IS SATURDAY..

As mentioned before, Doldrums' terrific new album, Lesser Evil, will be out February 26. If you haven't heard lead track "Anomaly" yet, you should check that out immediately -- it's downloadable above and streaming below.

Doldrums has a Spring tour in the works with two separate stops in NYC: 285 Kent on April 13 with Sean Nicholas Savage, and then a month later at Mercury on May 8 at Mercury Lounge. Tickets for the 285 show are on sale now while tickets for Merc go on sale today (2/1) at noon.

UPDATE: Full tour announced. Some West Coast shows with Blue Hawaii, some Southern dates opening for Crystal Castles. No other bands announced for Mercury Lounge yet. All tour dates are listed below

Doldrums (aka Toronto's Airick Woodhead) releases his new album, Lesser Evil, on February 26 via Arbutus Records. They recently released standout album cut "Anomaly" which you can download above or stream below. Woodhead is taking the live band version of Doldrums out on the road soon but no NYC dates have been announced yet. His full tour schedule is below.

Airick's brother Daniel, however, does have an NYC show coming up with his band Moon King. They'll play Shea Stadium on March 6 with Ava Luna, The Can't Tells and Local. Moon King, who just did some dates with Fucked Up in Canada, just finished their new album, Obsession II, and should be out in the first half of this year.

Airick Woodhead has come a long in the last 12 months with Doldrums, having started as a one-man elecronics project and quickly expanding it into an actual band that gained more form as the months went on. By the time CMJ rolled around, Doldrums was a fully realized endeavor on stage and one of the more entertaining sets I saw that week. As mentioned before, Doldrums' debut album, Lesser Evil, will be out February 26 on Montreal label Arbutus Records. It's a terrific record that I think is gonna turn a lot of heads. You may remember that Grimes jumped the gun and named it her favorite album of this year. You can check out the video for Lesser Evil's "She is the Wave," below and stream "Egypt," the first official single from the album, as well which is available in EP form right now.

Meanwhile, we got Airick to give us his Top 10 of 2012. He prefaces his list with this:

Driving alone at night is the best time to listen to music. Me and my car, Sheeba, have been through alot, and here are the records that have soundtracked our year; some good stuff coming out of the neighbourhood and from across the pond. Of course, i should be giving a honorable mention to my FAVORITE driving records of all time : Robyn, Sean Nicholas Savage, Elvis Presley, Yo! Majesty, Nancy Sinatra - but just for the sake of this being a year end list lets go with the new shit.

Will he give props back to Grimes? Or perhaps his brother Daniel's band Moon King? Check out his list below, along with the "She is the Wave" video.